We need each other

One thing trauma does is encourage us to isolate.  It encourages us to be away from our (chosen) family, friends, intimate partners, and communities.  How this looks for each of us is different.  It may look like actually appearing to be a hermit and not interacting with people or it may look like we are incredibly social, with many friends and connections, yet all of those relationships are only surface level and we never reveal (much of) the many aspects of who we are, our fears, our wants, our needs.

Both scenarios (and a million in-between) are isolation.  When we do not allow ourselves to deeply connect with others, that is one way our trauma shows up.  Our not allowing this deep connection is a signal of our desperate need for a sense of safeness and acceptance, our need for love and a sense of belonging.

When we have unprocessed trauma living within us, our ability to have a sense of safeness — with others or with ourselves — is stilted.  For many of us living with trauma, the tr…